For the second part of our Philippines journey, we escaped city life to find solace at Nick's aunt's nipa hut on the beach. We traveled three hours in a little van along a continuous stretch of coastline to Santander, the southernmost tip of Cebu island. My knuckles were nearly white from gripping my seat through the tumultuous drive, during which we shared the road with animals, pedestrians, and various open "vehicles" with no regard for traffic rules. The scenery beyond my window definitely helped, though.

Carefree children playing outside their homes:

After getting dropped off at our destination, we hiked briefly through a jungle of sorts before reaching signs of inhabitants, as indicated by tethered cows, goats, pigs, and other livestock. Here I am in my travel OOTD - Nick's tee (had to conserve my one and only outfit on the trip) and my sexy JanSport knapsack from middle school (conveniently left behind in China back then, now suddenly useful):

Upon arriving at the nipa hut, the simple beauty of it all took my breath away. This picture captures the essence of our stay...the basic structure of the home, the wooden boats lounging on the shore, the forlorn stray dog, and the proximity to the serene ocean. The only things missing are the pesky chickens.

The original base of the hut got washed away a decade ago, and was replaced with cement:

One of my first naive questions was how stuff doesn't get stolen
from the home with roll-up walls. Nick's aunt gave a little chuckle and
responded "There's nothing to steal..."

Activities during day-to-day hut life included snorkeling (but there
sure were a lot of sea urchins) and rowing in a "banca" boat. It was my first time snorkeling and I was easily fascinated by all the starfish down under. Unfortunately, I panicked each time a little water got inhaled/leaked in and thrashed uncontrollably at the urchins.

We did quite a bit of laundry due to our light packing. Below left: Washing clothes by the water tap, keenly keeping a side eye out for the aggressive chickens who walked around like they owned the place. Although they roamed freely, they each had a little leg tag marking the family whom they belonged to. Below right: The "dining" gazebo doubled as a clothes line.

As much as I'd like to say I transitioned to this way of life seamlessly, one of the biggest surprises to me were cold showers. The first night, I stood in the bathroom for a good ten minutes twisting the water knobs in every combo possible before asking for help - and being met with amused smiles.

I loved tagging along with Nick's aunt to buy meals. The muddy coolers by the side of the road served as storefronts for fishing families. Salted and then grilled, these were satisfying with rice.

The neighboring homes:

The volume of stray dogs in the Philippines broke my heart. It's not something we see often where we live, but it was prevalent at every turn during this trip.

Are you my mommy? ...no...

Are you my mommy?

As one would expect, this water-surrounded area was largely a fishing village. We observed numerous small boats going out at dawn, manned by bronzed fishermen with nets swung over their shoulders. Nick and I stood out like ghosts in comparison ; )

Fishermen pulled up outside our hut with the morning's catch. One came and handed a friendly offering through our open walls:

The incredibly vibrant colors, a theme throughout this trip:

Living in the States, I love my share of processed and fast food. It
felt different being so close to our meals. Seeing Juanita (the household helper) harvest
plants and grab a squawker from the yard, then being served chicken and
veggie stew a few hours later, was strangely startling to me.

Juanita preparing dinner (gift from the fishermen, also present):

The main road was more lively and lined with storefronts and vendors. I was so pleased to find one of my biggest guilty pleasures, fried chicken, to be plentiful throughout the Philippines. Locals would scoot up to this stand in mopeds and exchange coins for a tasty snack. I couldn't help but indulge as well! The chopped up crispy-skinned pork was also delicious.

Cooling off by the main road with Coke in refillable bottles.

Nick has told me of so many fond memories from his aunt's hut, such as
napping lazily on the open porch, dodging sea urchins in the ocean, and eagerly waiting for the beach side vendors selling mangoes and sweet sticky
rice. It felt wonderful for me to experience some of these things from his
childhood. I have to thank his family for an incredible, authentic experience which I could not have had as a mere tourist.

im glad you got to enjoy the beauty of the philippines. we aren't a very rich country, but we make do with what we got :) i bet the vendors were all staring at you and nick because of your pale complexion in comparison to the filipinos, haha! thanks for sharing

Wow, Jean - this is amazing! As much as I've traveled, it's always been to touristy destinations (except my aunt's in London). I find it so cool that you were able to enjoy such an authentic experience. I would love to do something like this one day, but I can't imagine going without a local. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, my David is a from a small town in Mexico (I've only been to Cancun and the like). Hopefully I'll get to experience something as remote as this! ;-)

What an awesome post! I really love reading travel blogs and I loved your well-written commentary as well. I'm going to Beijing in October and I'm a little apprehensive because I've never traveled out of the United States before, but your Philippines/China travel posts were so much fun to read and informative as well!

I especially love the vibrant photos of the unique simplicity of the village. I'm pretty much one of the biggest city women ever, but sometimes it's just good to get away from everything for a more rural, basal escape. :)

amazing photos, and I'm so happy to hear you had a good time in the Philippines :) It's been 7 years since I was last there (if you ever get a chance to go there for Christmas, it's truly another experience!) and I miss everything about it. Did you end up using a tabo for your shower (filling a bucket with water and using a smaller bucket to pour water over you)? It was something I have to get used to whenever I go back, but it's oddly refreshing when the weather is hot & humid!

Hi Jean! I've been reading your blog for the past 2 years and I've never commented *sigh...but, I loved this post so much. I got the visit the Philippines many times for work but have never been to Cebu. Your photos remind me how much I miss everything about the country and have to get back there for a visit to Cebu. Thanks for the great post!!! :) ~ Kelly

Oh I thoroughly enjoyed this post! I haven't been to the Philippines despite it being one of our closest neighbours (I'm in Malaysia) and this tells me perhaps I should visit, if just once :) Thanks for sharing!

This is such a beautiful post through and through. Thank you for sharing your trip with us - I feel like I actually got to experience it through your words and photos. For the past 4 years, my mommy duties (being either pregnant or baby rearing) have kept me mostly homebound so I enjoy reading about the travels of others. :)

i loved this post Jean - the pictures and descriptions are so wonderful. i could almost smell the fish grilling. the poor puppy pictures broke my heart. thank you for sharing these travels - it looks like it was such a wonderful life experience. xox P

Amazing! I've never been to the Phillipines, but your travel journal reminds me so much of visiting India as a kid. It made me excited about going back, this time with my own family. Wonderful post. Your writing is just so descriptive and expresses your personality so well. I had to giggle at the "white knuckle" comment and the cold water showers. As a kid, I didn't have enough knowledge to be aware of the unsafe vehicle conditions, but even now I vividly remember the bathing situation. Our family always had a maid and she kindly would boil a small vessel of water for us to mix with the room temperature water to make a "warm" shower.One of the biggest regrets I have is not taking these types of vacations enough when I was in the early stages of my career (pre-kids). I was always fooled into being that "hard worker" and never really exhausted my vacation. Now, I barely remember those jobs but would have remembered those great vacation memories.

You finally posted the second leg of your Philippines Trip! Thank you so much, Jean! It was a very pleasant distraction from studying for my upcoming GMAT test in less than 48 hours. Congratulations btw on your CFA success! Now all you need is that brand new business card with those three letters after your name! :]

Beautiful pictures! The hut looks beautiful and its awesome when you get to experience the local stuff which we as tourists rarely get to do. Sadly, the dogs are prevalent in India as well. I have many Phillipino friends and they fondly describe about their country and other stuff. I have to show your post to them now :-)

wow, what an amazing and unique experience. When traveling I often try to see out the authentic, non-touristy experiences... and you got that above and beyond. So fascinating seeing the culture in other corners of the world! Thank you so much for sharingxx Here&Now

I visited the Philippines 2 years ago and it was an amazing trip. Yeah, I agree when visiting other countries, I like to experience the authentic culture; especially the food. I too was amazed at the large amounts of stray dogs. It was sad. It was interesting that the dogs didn't bother the "humans" though. They pretty much stayed to themselves. Lovely pictures!

As much as I love to travel, I've only been able to experience a handful of experiences where it was more authentic and less touristy. So happy for you to experience these experiences and great memories with Nick :).

Hi! Jean went to Cebu but I recommend for you to go to Palawan if you want to visit the Philippines :) Coron, Puerto Princesa(where you can find the Underground River, a world heritage site), & El Nido. If you have some cash to burn though, I suggest Amanpulo Resort :)

Awesome post! I'm originally from the Philippines but moved to US at a young age...sad to say that you've been to more remote parts of Phil than I have. Thanks for sharing...makes me want to go for a visit.

Great post! Thank you for sharing your experience with us. : ) Even though I eat meat, I'd have a hard time eating something that I only saw alive a few hours ago. You did a good job being able to experience that!

You might find this pretty weird but I know exactly where the first photo was taken - it was in Boljo-on, Cebu, right? Though my siblings and I were raised in Naga City (south of Manila, in Luzon), my mom grew-up in Boljo-on. My parents used to take us there every school break so we could get in touch with our cousins from Cebu.

I've moved here in the US in 1995 and I've been back a few times to see my mom who still lives in Luzon, but never really found the time to visit Cebu. Looking at your photos brought back memories - me playing with my cousins on the beach, me taking cold showers, and me staring at the "hill" shown in the photo. Thanks for sharing...

Hi Jean! I've been reading your blog for awhile, but this is my first time commenting. I enjoyed your Philippines posts immensely. My husband and I reside in Texas currently, but he is from Cebu - we actually had our wedding there this past February. I was fortunate enough to spend time on the beach, and a few days in the city as well. It was fun reading about the Philippines from the POV of another Chinese girl. I'm looking forward to more travel posts!

Thank you for this delightful post of Cebu. Cebu is one of the larger islands that not many people inside the US had heard of, since Bohol's chocolate hills and Manila's capital is the most well-known. When I have traveled to Cebu, my outfits weren't really anything special -- baggy tee and shorts. Could you let us know some great island getaway outfits that are heat friendly? The towns outside of the city provide a wonderful fresh and relaxing feeling, since it's more cooler at night. But the city is way too hot and somewhat humid.

Hi Jean! It's great that you opt to stay at the kubo and not in some 5-star resort. All those glamorous hotels and resorts do not reflect the real situation in the Philippines. Glad you enjoyed the trip! :)

Great post! I grew up in Thailand and it seems like food culture is very similar...I terribly miss the mangoes and sticky rice, fried chicken stands, refreshing drinks off the street (especially the ones in little plastic bags). It made me very homesick indeed :-)

I totally lol about your comment about the cold shower. I remember asking my mom why do they have two knobs for their shower if choices are cold and very cold haha! But I really enjoyed your posts it's nice that you had a different experience and not the typical supposed 5 star tourist trap locations.

OMG. Best. Post. Ever. Or at least top 5. My second comment ever and I love this. I can identify with the stray dogs, cold showers, roadside stands and yummy fresh food(it's similar to where I am originally from)

Thanks for sharing your trip photos! You're so lucky to have gotten to see the real Phillipines and not just the tourist traps, although the cold showers and constant laundry might be something I wouldn't mind miss out on lol